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DSAD Saturday: Never Visit Your Competion and A Great List of Domains at Auction

DSAD Saturday: Never Visit Your Competion and A Great List of Domains at Auction

VibeFun.com, Beek.com, BedPal.com, BacklinkService.com

Shane Cultra
May 17, 2025

I’ve heard my whole life: you have to know what your competition is doing. Sam Walton, who founded Walmart, would go to his competitors every day to see what he could do better.

Then there’s me.

I had one competitor in town who did twice as much revenue as I did—and I never once went to their store. Why? Because I already knew what I needed to do better. I was limited by money, resources, and how to make it all happen. My customers showed me what they wanted. I could see the issues, whether it was the facilities, the quality of stock, the store layout, plant research tools—you name it. All I had to do was look and listen. Watch them shop.

Were they having trouble getting up and down the aisles? Maybe they were too tight. Were they only staying in the greenhouse for eight minutes? That probably meant the stock wasn’t good, or there wasn’t enough product in there.

Watching my customers gave me all the feedback I could ever want. Just because a competitor was doing something didn’t mean it was the right thing to do. That doesn’t mean I worked in a vacuum. I had a lot of garden center owner friends I could bounce ideas off. I went to trade shows and conferences, and sat in on roundtables full of great ideas.

I’m not saying my garden center was the best—not even close. We were self-financed and definitely not rolling in cash. Some garden centers spent $10 million building their facilities: five acres of concrete and greenhouses. We had gravel. But I 100% know what I’d do with unlimited resources to get the most profit for my expenditures. Honestly, I probably know even better now that I’ve stepped away and my brother has implemented things that are much better than what I did. We also freed up some cash to help with the transition.

So, do I think you need to watch your competition closely? Yes. But you can also just listen to the conversations around you. You’ll hear shoppers say things like, “XXX place has this, we’ll buy it there.” That tells me instantly: either my price is too high, or the quality doesn’t compare.

I’ve also seen trunks full of flowers from other competitors—because gardeners love to shop anywhere that has flowers.

So yes, you need to know everything about your competition. But in my experience, my customers brought me everything I needed to compete.

Quote of the Day:“I always arrive late at the office, but I make up for it by leaving early.”— Charles Lamb

Domain of the Day:VibeFun.com Vibe coding. This will do well

Please Note: The list below contains affiliate links and/or names that have been posted for a fee. It is how we pay for our time since it is a free site. More details at bottom of page. Can go to any of the auctions by adding the names at the end like this one